--- title: "AI may raise the bar and thin the pipeline · AI Fault Line" url: https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-1126-science-aeh4940/ description: "AI Fault Line is a neutral, evidence-cited field guide to why experts looking at the same developments disagree about AI's effect on productivity, jobs, inequality, regulation and the pace of change." --- [Research](https://aifaultline.com/research/) # AI may raise the bar and thin the pipeline Zhangxin (Frank) Liu · Science · 18 Jun 2026 [Read original source](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aeh4940) Where this sits in the debate - [Will AI destroy more jobs than it creates?](https://aifaultline.com/debate/jobs/) Direction of the finding as read from the abstract by an AI model ([AI-written](https://aifaultline.com/about/)). ## Abstract In their Perspective “AI raises the productivity bar” (19 February, 10.1126/science.aef5239), L. Wu and B. Vasilescu (1) argue that artificial intelligence (AI) can increase productivity while rewarding workers who already possess strong evaluative and delegation skills. However, they do not address the most important implication of their model. If expertise in evaluation and delegation is now a stronger precondition for productivity than the ability to execute tasks oneself, firms and laboratories may respond not by shedding large numbers of incumbent workers but by quietly reducing entry-level opportunities (1). In that case, aggregate output may remain stable or even rise while the apprenticeship function of organizations weakens. To ensure longterm success, researchers and organizations should assess a broad range of variables that adopting AI could affect. ## About this publication **Top journal.** One of the journals economics departments rank highest: the “top five” economics journals, and the general-science journals Science and Nature. Placed by: General-science journal. [How sources are ranked](https://aifaultline.com/about/#source-ranking). Published 2026 (4 months ago) Citations 0 (OpenAlex) 0 citations recorded by OpenAlex — too few 2026 papers in this collection for a fair comparison. [Chart: published 2026] ## More on this topic Related by theme, not necessarily by method or conclusion. - [The Effects of Generative AI on High Skilled Work: Evidence from Three Field Experiments with Software Developers](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-2139-ssrn-4945566/) SSRN · 2024 - [GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-48550-arxiv-2303-10130/) arXiv · 2023 - [Extending “GPTs Are GPTs” to Firms](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-1257-pandp-20251045/) AEA Papers and Proceedings · 2025 - [New Frontiers: The Origins and Content of New Work, 1940–2018](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-1093-qje-qjae008/) The Quarterly Journal of Economics · 2024 Overview assembled automatically from collected metadata. [How this site is built](https://aifaultline.com/about/).